Emotional involvement in SL

I think the existence of the troll kind of proves something relevant though.

There are people who for lack of a better word "Troll" Second Life.

Basically play with and prey on people's emotions that accompany the involvement in a virtual environment.

To da original ... and in my adults voice ... Second Life can be an emotional environment if you allow it. I have made some great friends there ... and but am truly close to only a few. I think its all a matter of how much you share of yourself within a virtual environment - not just your SL self, but your RL self. I do my best to keep them separate - SL is a place that I go to enjoy my time - its entertainment for me. There are a few relationships, however, that have gone to a real life friendship level - but those have evolved over the course of time, much like relationships in my real life have evolved.

*Back to my "child's" voice ...
Dis has been an interestings thread ... fanks yew for starts it. **Hugs from Faif**

One thing great is we can mute the trolls or any person who annoys us here.
Sadly we can't mute our emotions, reactionary bad habits, and experiences we carry from our flesh based experiences to Second Life.
Some people are really good at separate SL vs RL, in machine like robotic fashion.
I cannot.
SL for me is just extension of my real life, I am what you see just pixels allow me change my appearance.
Most of time I do keep to myself in world, I am introvert and loner yet sometimes the isolation with doing such behavior becomes very intense yet reaching out of that spot with all my warts, grumpy and emotionally needy flesh based ways even here annoy the heck out of me and it becomes big emotional mess.
Then there are other avatars with their fleshy neediness and habits that sometimes stumble in my virtual life and just becomes to draining and messy for me to deal with them but its easier most of time to just ignore, delete them then it is in real life.
Yet there is occasional others who stalk me down, worm their ways in my real life heart and leave abruptly leaving deep gashes in my heart and add to my resistance to allow new experiences with new people in just like in real life.
I guess I am human, although it would be easier to be machine ala FD-bot but I don't know how to script that within myself.

To bring this back on point, because it looks like it sorely needs it, I have posted elsewhere that I firmly believe there is no difference between emotions in Second Life and emotions elsewhere. Primarily this is because to me, there is only one existence. I'm me, whether I am communicating with a friend via SL, or whether I am communicating with them via telephone or face-to-face conversation.

SL is just a medium for communication - and what an amazing one it is! We can communcate visually as well as verbally or textually. Our art, our avatars, our dress, location, animations, everything conveys a message. But the bottom line is that it is just another aspect of life. My friends on the East Coast are still my friends, even though I can only talk to them via email and the phone. Why are my relationships in SL any different? They are still people.

The bottom line is that I have the same emotions in SL that I do anywhere else. I've been very happy, loved, moved to tears, angered and deeply hurt. That's all part of life's tapestry. SL is an incredible medium for fostering real relationships, but it the name is a misnomer. It's not a "Second Life"; it is another aspect of life.

Thank you guys, all of you bar one ...

Your comments, for and against, have been illuminating, and helped me to see my place in SL. In view of the hijacking of this thread to divert attention to the troll, I have no further interest in this thread, so those who wish can argue the case for and against trolling if that is what is wanted. The thread is also on another forum, I will focus my attention there. As for the troll, I only feel sadness that someone can be so bent on destroying a worthy thread - it reminds me of frustrated children who vent their anger by smashing things up.

To the management ...

Make of this thread and this post what you will ... I welcome any feedback ...

Thank you again. If you see me inworld, say hello

Well, but that's entirely dependent on the user. If you approach SL as you do, and you are pretty much wholly present as your RL self, then it's perfectly valid to view it and experience it the way you describe.

SL, however, offers the user an enhanced ability to control what they project into the world. It's true that this can also be done in RL to a certain extent -- it takes some very good skills to be able to do that though. In SL, on the other hand, you have more or less complete control over what aspects of the RL person you decide to project into your avatar -- and for some people, that projection -- while still on some level a part of who they are in RL because after all it comes from their RL brain -- is not really similar in many ways to the person that would present in SL. So interacting with such a person would not at all be like chatting with them on the phone or at a cocktail party.

It's the nature of SL -- the experience of what it is ultimately is tried to how one approaches the medium.

I think its more than just a medium for communication. If there wasn't an economy and commerce maybe that would stand true for me, but the creative outlet, and seeing the fruits of my labor make it more than that for me.

I think everything is intensified in Second Life because its purely mental. So every single emotion you feel, provided you have emotions (cocks an eye at the troll wannabe) are centered and geared towards the relationship you are forging. And I don't think its all Second Life either, I think time has a different frame on anything on-line, or cyber. Chatrooms, discussion forums, and virtual worlds all seem to move faster along simply because your entire mind is focused on it...and as for matters of the heart, the brain is the largest sex organ.

Well, that is some poor guy been tried and sentenced without appeal (why does that not surprise me?) as Pep IS my main. Perhaps someone could tell her to protect another innocent victim.

Pep (Checked logs all the way back, and unless Lindal has an alt he has never met her)

Someone pass a sugar tit to the cry baby.

The idea of such an object has never entered my brain before. I *knew* these forums would corrupt me eventually.

True. I can't argue with this. My post was my approach to SL, so it certainly wasn't meant to be some sort of directive that everyone should approach it the same way. Still, by trying to control what you project into SL, aren't you still communicating something in a way? I project parts of myself and hide parts of myself in RL. Sometimes I want to absolutely throttle someone at work, but I maintain and project a professional, detached demeanor because that's the personal I want to project. I project a very relaxed, jovial persona with my friends, but adopt an entirely different one in front of a judge. SL is sort of the same thing to me. The way people present themselves says something about them, whether they want it to or not, and if they really are projecting a complete lie, they will not be able to maintain that lie for any length of time.

It's an interesting new world we have here. I don't pretend to have any answers. All I have is my opinions, and those are subject to change without notice.

That isn't the first offer of succour I have ever been made as a result of my postings . . .

Pep (Too subtle for you?)

Hmm...Derek, you have to understand how this forum works. In general, it goes like this: A resident posts a question. Several answers, mostly helpful, are received. Someone throws in a comment that sends the pack crying off down another trail. It might be a trollish comment, but more often it's a simple sidetrack. The new direction may be a serious discussion in its own right.

At various points along the way, people throw in witty remarks, or replies to same. Eventually, the whole thing degenerates into happy chaos. At this point, the OP is long forgotten...but nevertheless, a good time is had by all.

You can "have no further interest" in a discussion...but it's a lot more fun to go with the flow.

Welcome to the SL forums, by the way. We're chaotic, but generally happy and glad to have newcomers join the fray. There is also an in world group. Search Groups for "The Forum Cartel"...don't forget the "The".

Really, I'm quite surprised. I'm more astonished that you aren't reported daily with your interruptions and misdirections of threads. I was under the assumption that these threads are for education and informative purposes, and not as an outlet for your overweening ego or your propensity to be a blowhole. Tell me Peppy, are you the type to sit there and rub your little gnarled hands with glee as you read back over what you believe is a witty post, but the greater number of people see as a pathetic display most akin to a recalcitrant child acting out against an authority?

PennyWhistle (Who thinks Pepe Le Wanker might be the saddest person on the forum)

And Sport, if this forum wasn't so strictly moderated, I could make you cry from a continent away. You're so small potatoes its laughable. You're like the old woman using her knowledge of manners to make everyone else uncomfortable instead of their real intent, which is to make people feel more comfortable. You wield your "superior intellect" like a whip over the heads of some of these guys who may be more conversational in their posting styles than you, and believe yourself better than others. Here's a tip, Hoss...you aren't. You're a fooking cliche.

*Back to my adult voice* ... Anyone want to lay odds on the fact that forum postings are probably the only place that an offer of succour is made to good ole Pep here? Hence ye ole bitterness and build up of ...

*Back to my child voice* ... Mommy ... what is testa ... mmmm ... test ... mmm testaferones?

*insert derisive snort here*

ROFL!

Yes, of course, everyone approaches SL differently -=- your approach is just as legitimate as anyone else's.

I also agree that it's very possible to control to a certain degree what we present in RL as well (and some professions require this more than others -- our own profession tends to train this into us because of what we do, perhaps the same could be said for actors or politicians). It's a question of degree, as I see it -- SL allows you to more thoroughly control the projection into the world, or perhaps if not more thoroughly, to more easily do it.

But in any case the really interesting thing about SL, I think, as a medium is looking at all the various and sundry ways that people interact with and within it, and present themselves, and perceive themselves and others. It's true that much diversity exists in these areas in RL, too, but because of the newness of the SL medium, still, it's a fascinating thing to observe the similarities and the differences alike.

WWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW....I have just been reading this thread, so I guess I am not on anybody's mute,ban or ignore lists yet...

Responding to your question, Derek...
I have experienced quite a few different emotions on SL that I thought could not be possible...

The rage and hatred for another AV, when they just come into my skybox and do not leave when politely asked...

The love and joy I have for my SL fiancee...Also the pride I have for her everytime we chat, as she is Italian and English is not her first language, so she has been taking English courses in her RL so we can communicate better...

The wonderment of seeing different sims and replica's of places I have always wanted to visit...

Also just the good feeling inside when I am able to help another Av with a problem, or when my SL fiancee says "You are 1 of my best friends, and I know you will always be there for me...I will always be here for you..."

A communication professor of mine once mentioned that one of the best ways to make a bad impression is to fail to adapt your language to the circumstances you find yourself in. He wasn't talking about 'dumbing it down,' or losing your personal voice, just paying to what was appropriate in that time and place.

Well...... there are 4 SL days for every RL day.




QFT - very nicely said!!

(one user said Thanks)





In response to the OP - I have been totally blown away by the intensity of the emotions that I have felt here. I have never done a lot of online stuff before - no online games, a tad bit of AOL and Compuserve in the early days, but no real chat rooms or forums for years before SL. I was amazed at how I have come to care so deeply for some of my friends and at how much the ending of a virtual intimate relationship could hurt.

The emotions are real for me - my inworld profile even states that - I have felt emotions all up and down the spectrum and I would not give it up for anything. The joys experienced make the pain worthwhile.

So Faif ' has it about right then?

Pep (laughing more and more as the thread goes on)

Still smarting?

Pep (Read my current sig about its and it's - I thought you claimed to be an English Major?)

Someone came into my office - where I'm purportedly working - and I had to hit enter before I'd quite finished my post.

In any case the professor warned not only of the dangers in using informal language in a formal situation, but those of the reverse as well. In the former, you may seem unlearned or uncaring; in the later, arrogant or overcompensating. In either situation, it prevents you from fitting in and being taken seriously.